Chester County officials react to Sen. Specter's career

FILE - In this May 17, 2010 file photo Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., arrives at Citizens Bank Park, in Philadelphia, as he campaigns across Pennsylvania for the Democratic nomination to run for re-election. Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, longtime Senate moderate and architect of one-bullet theory in JFK death, died Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. He was 82. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Chester County political leaders recalled former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter as a good man, even when they disagreed with his political positions.

“We will not see the likes of Arlen Specter again in our lifetime and what he did for the people of the state of Pennsylvania,” said Skip Brion, a former Chester County Republican chairman.

Brion said he considered Specter a good friend with whom he disagreed politically.

As a conservative Republican, Brion said, he came into conflict with Specter’s views. He said the 30-year Republican senator was out of line when he bolted the party to seek election as a Democrat after complaining that the Republican Party had changed. Specter lost the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. “I’m sorry his career ended the way that it did,” Brion said.

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But Brion said there was no question that Specter was an effective senator. He said people in Washington held Specter in high respect for his intellect and work.

Brion said he did not think the Republican Party changed, as Specter had claimed when he switched parties, as much as Spector had changed politically. He felt it was not so much a Republican Party shift as a political shift in the views of the senator, particularly as demonstrated by his vote for the auto bailout and stimulus package for Democratic President Barack Obama in 2009.

But over the many years that they knew each other, Brion said that when he disagreed with Specter he could always have a discussion with him about it. “He was not afraid to sit and talk about it,” said Brion. “You might not agree, but you would walk away understanding each other.”

They remained friends, said Brion. He said after open heart surgery he and his wife received well-wishing calls from Specter and offers for any assistance to help. “As a person he was a very good friend,” he said. “He was a very caring individual as a person.”

Val DiGiorgio, the current Chester County Republican chairman, recalled that the enthusiastic support then-Republican senator for the candidacy of Mike Fisher for governor in 2002. “I was southeastern Pennsylvania political director for Mike Fisher. Arlen was working really hard to get Mike Fisher elected when a lot of guys didn’t give him a chance,” he said.

“If Arlen really believed in a candidate or a cause, he was a tireless fighter and a leader,” said DiGiorgio. “I was a real shame at the end. He said we moved, but it was he who had moved. ... I was as disappointed as anybody at the end.”

Chester County Democratic Chairman Michelle Vaughn said she got to know Specter better as a person after he became a Democrat. As a Republican, she respected him as a moderate and supporter of medical research and women’s rights.

Local Democrats split in support of Specter and Delaware County U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak for the senatorial nomination in 2010. But Vaughn came away from the experience feeling that Specter was “a class act” and a good person. “I was impressed with the people who worked for him who said that as tough as he was, they said that he made them a better person.” She said she was impressed with Spector’s skills at helping people to fulfill their potential. “They wouldn’t be where they were today without him mentoring people,” she said.

“I first met Arlen when he was a Republican and got to know him as a Democrat,” said veteran state Sen. Andrew E. Dinniman, D-19th of West Whiteland. “Whatever party he was in, you were always impressed by his energy, his intellect and his never-give-up attitude. You say this in his public life and in his battle against cancer.”

U.S. Republican Rep. Patrick Meehan of Delaware County, served as Specter’s state director and senior counsel from 1991 to 1994, and managed his 1992 re-election campaign.

“I’m deeply saddened by the loss of Senator Specter. He made tremendous and long-lived contributions to Pennsylvania and to our nation. He distinguished himself by leading on criminal justice issues, foreign affairs, and most especially, fighting for advances in health care research,” he said.

Former Gov. Ed Rendell said Specter did more for the people of Pennsylvania over more than three decades than anyone “with the possible exception of Benjamin Franklin.”

In a statement, Rendell called Specter “a mentor, colleague and a political institution.”

On a personal level, he said, Specter was “my first boss.” Rendell served as an assistant prosecutor when Specter was Philadelphia’s district attorney.

Rendell also called Specter “a champion for veterans across our state and beyond” and said he “will be deeply missed.”

President Barack Obama issued a statement saying, “Arlen Specter was always a fighter. From his days stamping out corruption as a prosecutor in Philadelphia to his three decades of service in the Senate, Arlen was fiercely independent — never putting party or ideology ahead of the people he was chosen to serve. He brought that same toughness and determination to his personal struggles, using his own story to inspire others.”

Vice President Joseph Biden, the former Democratic senator from Delaware, said, “Arlen Specter was a great senator who lived his life the way he died, with dignity and courage. He was my friend and I admired him a great deal. For over three decades, I watched his political courage accomplish great feats and was awed by his physical courage to never give up. Arlen never walked away from his principles and was at his best when they were challenged.”

Former President George W. Bush said, “Arlen Specter loved our country and served it with integrity for three decades in the United States Senate. Laura and I appreciate his contributions to America and are grateful for his many years of public service.”

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge said, “He generated a lot of support and a lot of dissent, but he was unafraid to be held accountable. ... At the end of the day, he was one relentless, unapologetic fighter. Republicans and Democrats may not like how he voted, but they certainly had to respect his mindset.”